strangle

President Francois Hollande warned anti-reform protesters that he would not let them strangle the economy as a stand-off with unions deepens. But despite waves of strikes and demonstrations, French households are finally turning more optimistic as consumer confidence surged to its highest level since October 2007.

A family in the southern province of Soc Trang has requested the police to step in as two novice monks at a Buddhist pagoda, one of whom their son, suffered severe burns after being asked to take an unorthodox lie detection test.

Experts expect Vietnam to achieve 2013 GDP growth between 5.3–5.4 percent while keeping annual inflation to 6.2–6.3 percent but warn domestic production needs more time to make a complete recovery, according to Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV)